Muttiah Muralitharan is the most successful spinner in international cricket. The Sri Lankan has taken 800 Test wickets in 133 Tests at an average of 22.7, and 543 ODI wickets in 350 matches at an average of 23.8 with an excellent economy of 3.93.
No one has taken more wickets than him in the two formats or combined in international cricket. He was also part of the Sri Lankan 1996 World cup winning team, which defeated Australia in the final.
Muralitharan was known for his quirky bowling action which saw him using his shoulder and wrist to push the ball towards the batsman. however due to a natural deformity in his arm, he couldn't straighten it fully, and while bowling, his action gave the illusion of him throwing the ball.
This led to a huge incident during the 1998-99 tri-series in Australia featuring England and Sri Lanka as well. During an ODI match in Adelaide between England and Sri Lanka, umpire Ross Emerson called no-ball every time Muralitharan bowled an off-spinner.
This led to then Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga having a heated discussion with the two umpires and then took his team off the field. This led to Murali undergoing extensive biomechanical tests by ICC to prove that his action was in fact correct. Only then he was able to return to international cricket.
And it seems that his son NAren has picked the nuances of his father's action as evident from a video the Sri Lankan legend shared a video of his son.
The video captioned 'father and son time', shows a comparison between the bowling actions of Murali and his son Naren side-by-side and the youngster seems to be following his father’s footsteps and his action, especially the delivery of the ball is identical to that of his father's.
The video has gone viral as fans across the globe are astonished by the similarity between the actions of the father-son duo.
Check it out here:
